


Snow White and the Bubbling Chocolate

by starshipslytherin



Series: Pansmione writing [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Baby, Chocolate, Cursed Child sucks, Enemies to Lovers, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, Flashback, Fluff, Friendship, Get Together, Get together fluff, Hufflepuff, Not CC compliant, Slytherin&Gryffindor ally, infant, pureblood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-01
Updated: 2017-02-01
Packaged: 2018-09-21 17:40:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9559958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starshipslytherin/pseuds/starshipslytherin
Summary: Hermione Granger had no idea how a trip to Hogsmeade with her friend made her end up having a drink with three purebloods and a baby, but somehow she made it out alive.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Not CC compliant even if it might seem so at some point; no spoilers.

This time it'd feel like breaking free, after all the History homework and the tutoring second years - how did I ever believe I didn't have enough to do? Ginny didn't want to go. Why would she? There was nothing special about Hogsmeade, not anymore. For her. For me, it just wasn't Hogwarts, and there was beer, and I wasn't feeling that good, so what? Exhausted.  
I started walking, leaving crunching footprints in the dry snow, and I heard some faster ones behind me, the smile of a black and yellow scarf. Ginny and I had met her at the Slug club, but I'd had a feeling I'd known her before. Turned out she was a S.P.E.W. member. She was alright, more than alright, and we became friends, and she was a lot like Ginny, except for a trademark Hufflepuff beaming grin and everything that her family had passed on to her, an assertive smirk at times, a posh accent, at least what was left of the latter.  
"Hermione, mate", she said quirkily. And she called everyone'mate'. Even her boyfriend of two years, even his baby cousin they adopted. "Up to something?"  
"Oh, I just had to get out of the castle. Walking around and so on. Are you going to see Draco?"  
Her cheeks went pink and her warm brown eyes dreamy. The epitome of innocence and sweetness, that was what she had always been since I met her. Doing no harm, nearly always meaning well, and generally the person you'd not expect to date Malfoy. Unless Malfoy did need fixing, and maybe she did, too.  
She nodded eagerly. "He's the thought that's keeping me warm. And Delphi's growing so much, and he thought he wouldn't be able to do this, but he's doing so well and trying so hard, and I can't see her as often as I'd like to." She sighed and pouted, adjusting the yellow scarf and hat. "I can't wait for Christmas. Because of the family and the seeing Delphi often enough. Mainly, though, because I'm seriously underfucked."  
I choked on my own spittle. Imagine hearing Little Innocence On Legs uttering a sentence like that, straightforwardly, without a lowered voice, but with a deadpan expression instead.  
"Sorry. I'm getting desperate", she sighed and blushed much more.  
"No, it's fine", I chuckled. "I just - thought you might be a virgin. You've only just come of age."  
She blinked, and suddenly threw her head back laughing, her low altus voice jumping cheerfully. "I'm a Hufflepuff! I know we're underestimated, but you don't wanna know what we did in our dorms in year two or three when we discovered - certain parts of our anatomies - had, say, more functions than we thought. But I didn't literally lose my virginity until I was fifteen."  
"To Draco?" The carefree way she was talking about this made me forget what, and most importantly who, this conversation was about. She nodded and smiled. That was all she did. I had never thought of Malfoy as someone who'd lose his innocence (if you might call it that, speaking of that particular person) until he got married, considering his traditional background, but Tori had been raised in that way as well. Perhaps what Muggles and Wizards regarded as 'traditional values' differed even more than I'd assumed.  
"Of course. I wouldn't sleep with anyone else, even if I had three more weeks to go, or another six, or twenty years. They say you succeeded if you marry the one you lost your virginity to. At least my dad did. Everyone else told me love was just a liability. If it was, I'd gladly indulge the temptation anytime. It feels so good."  
"I wish I knew how", I sighed, with the village coming in sight. "Ron was never the one, and my first relationship was - too long ago."  
"Are you a virgin?"  
It wasn't an intrusive question; simply a question, nothing more, nothing less. I answered yes. Truthfully, actually, because sometimes it felt as if Tori could read minds; and I reminded myself Incclumency existed, and I didn't know whether she had mastered it. She was an extremely good student, being in the Slug Club, and very bright and intelligent.  
"Be careful about who you're gonna give it to", she smiled. "Most people believe in this. The thing about growing old with each other. I'm definitely growing old with Draco, you see, even if people think he's a bad person. They're going to get over it eventually."  
"So you believe he's not? A bad person?"  
She shrugged, but her voice was steady when she spoke, she must have given a lot of thought to what she now pronounced. "I'm not saying he's concealing a heart of gold anywhere; that'd be idle to say. But silver, definitely, and that's more than many people out there have. And he's capable of loving, truly loving. You can tell. He can love." She closed her eyes, zoning off for a second, fondly smiling, as though she was tasting his love on her tongue, and I wish I had someone who'd make me that happy just by loving me, and by letting me know. It must be special, I thought, being loved by someone like Draco Malfoy. Being the one to break through all the masks.  
"You love him", I whispered, my heart beating suddenly, and why had I not understood her before. How could Ginny frown when Tori first mentioned him! It was love, love was possible, and I could somehow see Malfoy loving her, and it wasn't weird or strange in any way, it was natural. Why wouldn't it be?  
We reached the Three Broomsticks, and an elderly gentleman proudly exhibiting quite an impressive silver moustache held the door open for us with a friendly smile. Astoria returned it, and I courteously nodded my head. I hadn't given any thought to the fact that Tori was meeting Malfoy. I'd have to sit somewhere else and drink silently for myself if I didn't want to endure having the most awkward pint of beer in my life.  
As though she knew what I was thinking about, Tori frowned at me. "Would you like to sit with us for a few minutes? I'd understand if you didn't, Draco can be an insufferable brat at times, but maybe it'd be better than sitting alone. I think he's sorry, though", she added.  
"You think so? And what about her?", I muttered, as I had just spotted Pansy Parkinson's black hair, red lips and haughty sneer next to the silvery blonde mop of hair that was Draco Malfoy and the soft baby curls of his adoptive daughter on his lap, which were in fact of a greenish blue.  
She exhaled irritably. "Not her, not today, she's not gonna leave us alone all afternoon", she groaned.  
I shrugged. Malfoy and Parkinson had seen us, and, like us, started to whisper.  
The baby used the lack of fatherly supervision to reach for Malfoy's glass of butterbeer with her fat little fingers, and tipped it over, making the contents spill all over the table and the floor, staining the white tablecloth. He abruptly jumped to his feet and automatically handed Parkinson the infant so he could draw his wand and clean up the mess. It looked so professional and natural it made me wonder. I felt myself swallowing.  
"Tori?", I asked gently, watching the amusement and the eye roll battling in her facial expression, and she gave me a questioning look. "Um - Draco and - Pansy - they're close, aren't they?"  
"Friends, yeah."  
I held in a puff of air wanting to be pressed out of my nostrils. "Aren't you ever - getting jealous?"  
She chuckled lightheartedly. "Over Pansy? Nah. She's like a sister to me, because, you know, she used to go out with my cousin until a year ago when both of them needed more space or whatever. We're still close, and I can absolutely assure you Pansy only and exclusively likes girls, or, as you might be used to hearing it in the Muggle world, she's 'gay as hell'".  
I frowned, and as Parkinson carefully gave the giggling baby back to Malfoy, cooing at her and blowing her a little kiss with her flaming red lips, softly pinching the chubby pink cheeks with her black clawy nails, no, I had never imagined Parkinson being gay, but that didn't make her look any different, as it usually made people look different if you learned something unexpected about them.  
"I'm going to ask her to leave if she's treating you badly", Tori said to me. "She changed, a bit, but you never know."  
I followed her over to the table.  
I don't know why I believed her and trusted her judgement when it came to someone like Parkinson, someone like Parkinson who was with Malfoy, but I knew Astoria herself was with Malfoy as well, and she was far too sweet, and since when could Hufflepuffs not be trusted?  
"I'm bringing a friend, mates, be nice", she said to them. "Hi."  
I awkwardly watched and listened to her kissing her fiancé hello and picking up her baby (whose hair, at her arrival, had turned the same shade of hazelnut brown as hers), softly whispering little nothings, and give Parkinson a warning look.  
Malfoy acknowledged my presence first. He nodded at me in the same manner I had nodded at the gentleman who had held the door open, and I did the same. "Granger", he said.  
When I nodded at Parkinson, she haughtily lifted her chin and inspected me closely through her narrowed eyelids.  
"Be nice", Tori scolded her.  
"Hello", said Parkinson, heavily, as though it had almost been too much for Tori to ask of her.  
"Hello", I said.  
"Hermione Granger", Parkinson pronounced my name. She did it in a fashion that rendered me speechless, not in an overwhelmed sort of way; I just couldn't read her at all, and it was leaving me puzzled.  
"Yes", I responed.  
Tori kissed the top of the baby girl's head, and she turned to me smilingly, and perhaps she knew exactly that a seven-month-old would always break the tension. "This is Delphi", she told me, "and this is my friend Hermione, sweetie. Say hello."  
Delphi didn't say hello, obviously, but she squealed and started groping for my curls with her sticky hands, the swollen gums and the two little teeth she had were shining as she laughed just adorably, and who wouldn't return a baby's happiness? "Hello", I purred, the presence of the two people who had helped make my time at Hogwarts something close to hell completely forgotten; who would care?  
"This child apparently devours even the brightest brains", Parkinson snored. "You'd think her teething might have wiped the grin off her face; but no."  
"Well, you're not the one who has to nurse her at night when she's in pain", Malfoy snapped. "Besides, nobody coos as much at her as you do."  
"She might be a powerful ally against you one day", Parkinson hissed.  
"Come on, you're infatuated. Admit it."  
"Granger's infatuated is all I'm saying."  
She wasn't quite wrong. Astoria had handed me the baby and this child's laugh was nothing but irresistible; I found myself pulling the most ridiculous faces at her when I had never liked babies before; the only word I could think of was adorable, little Delphi was adorable with her black eyes and her aura of pure innocence.  
"Everyone is", said Malfoy. "She's a very likeable child, isn't she, Granger?"  
Hearing my name out of his mouth, pronounced without even the slightest hint of scoffing, made me look up to him, and he looked different, because I knew something new about him; he was what Tori had told me he was, and it softened his features and added a warm, lively glint to his grey eyes that hadn't been there before, certainly not, and it dishevelled his white hair just enough for him to suddenly look like a person with a human soul, worthy of being loved so deeply by someone like Astoria, worthy of having the privilege of being allowed to love her, worthy of spending a lifetime with her and of raising their children together. I could finally see what she saw, and it made me understand.  
"Yes, she is", I answered gently. "And vivid", I amusedly added when she got her hands entangled in my hair once again and Tori had to free them (and to keep me from further pain).  
Malfoy smirked, a warm, not a scornful smirk, one that went up to his eyes, one that would have been a smile on any other face, well, it probably was one. "Very", he said.  
"She's my goddaughter", Parkinson informed me, as though this particular piece of information could in no case be skipped, and it made both her voice and her chest swell with pride.  
"Congratulations", I said. "I'm sure you're a great godmother."  
"Woah, crawler", she moaned. "You're just jealous. There's just one of them, you know. Just one Delphi."  
"I can tell", I snapped irritably. "And I'm not trying to steal her from you or anything, if that's what you thought."  
"I didn't, I'm not daft", she said pointedly.  
"That's what they all say", Malfoy threw in smugly.  
"Oh, come on, let's sit. And Pansy, please behave yourself, and keep your sharp tongue under control."  
"I'm always under control", Parkinson muttered haughtily, but obediently sat down with everyone else, and so did I, wondering how I had gotten inside this circle of purebloods, it felt so strange.  
Malfoy awkwardly apologised, on his and Parkinson's behalf, after half a pint of Guinness. If you could call it that, apologising; he implied he wouldn't treat me and my friends the same if he were to restart Hogwarts. That was a nice thing to hear. Parkinson somehow didn't disagree.  
After a while, Delphi's diapers needed changing, and Draco apparently couldn't find any fresh ones in the bag he had brought; he and Tori pretty much dived into it while Delphi was drooling and loudly babbling (it sounded as if she was complaining in some sort of baby language unintelligible to adults).  
I bravely seized the moment.  
"I think we should leave them some alone time later, don't you? They rarely get to see each other", I whispered only for Parkinson to be heard, and, in retrospect, I'm not sure whether I had any ulterior motives back then, but I mainly wanted to do a friend a favour. Parkinson pouted and exhaled through her fine nostrils. "I hate to admit you're right, Granger."  
After we had emptied our glasses and had made Tori and Draco believe we'd go and resolve the discrepancies of our past, we somehow ended up actually doing something together - namely visiting Honeydukes, silently, however.  
It was her who spoke first. "I've sunk pretty low, you know", she huffed. "Going shopping with Granger."  
"Thank you", I hissed. "I, too, enjoy your company very much, you're charming."  
We said nothing after that quick, sharp dialogue, and continued to pick sweets. Parkinson kept avoiding everything I had put in my basket before, and when I reached for the last bar of Bubbling Chocolate, my favourite -which she obviously hadn't been interested in before- she quickly took it. "Mine", she grinned triumphantly. I snored in annoyance and we went to pay.  
After we had left the shop, I intended to return to the castle without saying goodbye to her, even though having left someone without saying goodbye awakened a nagging, somewhat empty feeling in me. Therefore, I was almost relieved when I noticed she had been following me.  
"Take this, Granger", she said with a dignified look, holding out the chocolate bar. "It's yours to keep."  
I eyed it suspiciously.  
She noticed. "Look, I hate this kind. I just couldn't resist taking it from you, because I've always been like that. I treat everyone the same, and some think I'm rude, some have learnt to cope. Don't take anything I say or do personally."  
Somehow my path back to Hogwarts suddenly led me after her to the Shrieking Shack, and somehow we talked, and at once, she was a whole new person to me. It wasn't the same as it had been with Malfoy; she didn't look any different. I looked differently at her, and I found some things about her that I had only barely perceived so far, things that turned out to be easy to admire. Her hair shone so brightly even in the dark, especially in the dark, and her skin was so clear and pearly white and her lips so red, and I ended up telling her the tale of Snow White, because she was so much like her, without saying it reminded me of her. All I told her was the fact it had always been my favourite fairy tale.  
"A Muggle tale, isn't it?", she had asked, without judging me, however.  
"Yes."  
When I came to the part where Snow White is saved by her prince, she stopped me. She said she didn't want a prince; she had never been interested in princes. "I'd like a nerdy fluffy-haired princess", she smoothly told me when I asked her what she'd like to have instead, and for the first time in forever, she cracked a smile; not a scoff or a smirk, it was a smile.  
I can't tell you how it started, but we kissed. Her lips were as sweet and soft as they were red. She said she'd liked me for longer than she wanted to admit. I told her I had been falling in love more quickly than I wanted to admit. She beamed.  
"Care to kiss me again, Granger? I previously missed the opportunity to get my own hands entangled in that fluffy hair of yours."  
"I can't deny I like the way your lips feel on mine", I smiled, and I felt filled up with all the colourful feelings and emotions that had been drained from me over the years.  
This time, we kissed properly. She tasted of warmth, ice, lemons, and the bitterness of Guinness, and with her hot lips, she gave me as much as she demanded.  
I already knew back then that this would be for long, at least for very long.  
Knowing I had somebody waiting for me outside of Hogwarts made everything easier to endure, even my homework and my second-years, and Tori and I, we understood each other. We would visit Hogsmeade whenever we could, together. We watched each other get married, we watched our children growing up, and it was just that one day that had irrefutably made me inseparable from two Slytherins I had hated since I met them, and a little Hufflepuff I hadn't truly known before.  
And I must say, even today it is special, being loved by someone like Pansy Parkinson. Being the one who made her drop all the masks. And I still enjoy her company as much as I used to, every day. And while Draco Malfoy's white blonde hair turned silver, and Astoria's became decorated with more and more grey streaks over the years, and their children all grew up, moved out, and started families of their own, just like ours, Pansy's hair never seems to loose its flawless jet black colour (even though she insists she would never use any Muggle hair dye), and it's still shining, lighting my way through the darkness and guiding me to places that are all new to me, but that I'll forever keep within my heart, because I'm her princess and she's my Snow White.

**Author's Note:**

> OK, so this is not CC compliant because I 'mildly dislike' the play and would, for several reasons, never consider it canon. It therefore does not contain any spoilers (even though I still put Delphi in it, however her CC identity is not explained, as I think of her as Rodolphus Lestrange's biological daughter anyway).  
> Hope you enjoyed the read:)


End file.
